Posts tagged: Roasted

Looking for a delicious way to spice up dinnertime? This curry cauliflower fried recipe is lower in carbohydrates, plant-based, and filled with flavorful curry spices.

With just a handful of fresh ingredients and a few pantry staples, this recipe can be on the table in 30 minutes.

Buying the Ingredients

This curry cauliflower fried rice is made with cauliflower, as opposed to traditional white rice, and crunchy chickpeas, plus a variety of healthy and warming spices. If you’ve never swapped cauliflower in place of rice before, prepare for an easy and healthy treat.

Cauliflower is a good source of fiber, potassium, magnesium, vitamin C and E, and potent antioxidants. The antioxidants in cauliflower (as well as other vegetables in the brassica family) are associated with reduced oxidative stress, promotion of detoxification pathways, stimulating the immune system, and decreasing the risk of certain cancers. Not to mention, cauliflower rice contains significantly more fiber than white rice, the latter of which has had its fiber stripped during processing, resulting in a high-glycemic grain.

Along with nutrient-rich cauliflower, this recipe also contains roasted chickpeas, which are heart-healthy crunchy bites. Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are good sources of fiber, protein, manganese, folate, copper, iron, and phosphorus. Consuming these beans is associated with balanced blood sugar levels and satiety, thanks to chickpeas’ high amount of fiber.

To use chickpeas, cook your own from dried garbanzo beans (a batch cooking wonder) or purchase canned chickpeas in BPA-free cans or cardboard containers. If using canned chickpeas, dump them in a colander and rinse thoroughly before use.

This recipe gets its warmth and rich flavor from curry powder, a spice blend made up of turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom, basil, ginger, garlic, mustard seeds, and cinnamon. All of these herbs and spices boast serious health benefits including antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory properties, and improved digestion. Look for an organic curry powder, which means that the spices and herbs used were not sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals. Once opened, store curry powder in a dark and cool place and use within a year.

Kitchen Prep

This curry cauliflower fried rice recipe couldn’t be easier to prepare. Simply preheat the oven, prep the rice, roast chickpeas, and sauté the vegetables and spices. Add everything together and dinner is ready.

In order to turn the cauliflower into rice, you’ll need a food processor or box grater. The food processor can pulse down cauliflower florets into rice, while the box grater easily shreds the veggie into fine rice-like pieces.

Both methods are seamless and simple. If you lack time, you can also purchase organic riced cauliflower at Whole Foods Market or Trader Joe’s. Although much more expensive than just a regular head of cauliflower, riced cauliflower can help save time during kitchen prep.

In fact, some may take saving kitchen prep time a bit too far. The grocery chain, Trader Joe’s has imposed a two-bag limit of cauliflower rice due to the item’s popularity in several stores. Trader Joe’s headquarters reports, “The popularity of this item has led to a temporary lapse in its availability…We are hard at work to ensure more Organic Riced Cauliflower is available as soon as possible.”

Flavor Tips

While cauliflower rice is as versatile as they come and can quickly adapt to a variety of dishes and flavors, in this recipe, curry powder is the star.

From burrito bowls to homemade fried rice, cauliflower is an easy way to add in extra nutrients and fiber. Dana Shultz of the popular food blog, Minimalist Baker, notes “Because rice can often leave dishes feeling heavy, it’s nice to substitute a vegetable where a starch would usually be” she says. “In addition, it’s a great way to squeeze more servings of vegetables into your day.”

Another way to add in more flavor and nutrients is to add vegetables to the baking tray while roasting the chickpeas. Cubed butternut squash, sweet potato, onion, zucchini, or mushrooms can bulk up the dish while boosting the antioxidant and flavor content of this meal.

This recipe also fits a variety of dietary restrictions notably plant-based and gluten-free diets. To make this recipe Paleo-friendly, omit the chickpeas and swap with roasted winter vegetables instead.

While chickpeas roast, add cauliflower florets to a food processor. Pulse cauliflower several times until broken down to the size of small grains of rice or couscous. Alternatively, use a box grater to shred cauliflower into fine rice-sized pieces. Voila – cauliflower rice!

Heat remaining one tablespoon of coconut oil or ghee in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in onion and sauté for five to seven minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add in garlic and sauté for three minutes more, stirring often.

To the skillet add cauliflower rice, curry powder, ginger, and lemon juice stirring to incorporate spices into the rice. Season cauliflower fried rice with ½ tsp sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add in roasted chickpeas and baby spinach and stir well. Cook until spinach wilts, about three minutes.

Kate is a Nutritionist with a Master’s of Nutrition from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon and the blogger and photographer of Vegukate. Kate believes in nourishing the whole body with real, vibrant foods that feed the mind, body, soul, gut, and every single little cell. Her philosophy is simple when it comes to food and nourishment: cut the processed junk, listen to your body, eat by the seasons, eat plates and bowls filled with color, stress less, and enjoy every single bite. When she’s not cooking in her too tiny Portland kitchen, Kate can be found perusing farmer’s markets, doing barre classes, hiking, reading, and exploring.

Karissa Bowers is a fashion and food blogger living a compassionate lifestyle. Karissa is the blogger of Vegan À La Mode where she shares her favorite vegan and gluten-free recipes and also her eco-friendly cruelty-free style. Her love for photographing food and her outfits, drove her to develop a passion for photography. After a few years of honing in on her photography skills, Karissa launched her business, Karissa Bowers Photography, where she shoots weddings and portraits. When she’s not taking photos or in the kitchen, you can find Karissa traveling and trying new vegan restaurants.

Hi, David here. I’ll get to the recipe soon but first I just wanted to share a little scene from last night. Isac was watching a baking program for kids and as I was tucking him in, he thoroughly explained the whole process of making croissants to me. ”You have so much butter in croissants, dad. Like, a lot. You put it on the dough and fold it over the butter like this. And you hit it with the rolling pin like this, bam bam bam”. When it comes to numbers and letters, he can be a little clueless, but the fact that our three year-old had memorized all the details in croissant baking from just watching it once on tv, made me all happy and proud. I’m not saying that mastering a croissant is more important than math, but teaching our kids how to cook has been one of the things I’ve really looked forward to as a dad. And he is really into it. The little kids stove has long been his favorite toy both at home and in kindergarten an he often serves imaginary pancakes to all his friends. I’ve promised him that we will make croissants together tonight so I’m off to prep a dough right after this (making the rye croissants from Green Kitchen Travels). I’ll report back with how it goes.

Today’s recipe doesn’t have anything to do with croissants but Isac does play a little part as kitchen helper in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgnIqfwxl6s]

There is one obvious reason why grain bowls have become so popular in the last couple of years. Their looks. If you don’t know what a grain bowl is, it’s basically a mix of roasted and raw vegetables on a bed of grains and herbs arranged in a bowl. The mix of vegetables often make these bowls super colorful and therefore also very popular on instagram. Grain bowls are however more then just pretty. They are hearty and provide a variety of textures and flavors. They are also very easy to adapt to what you have at home and what’s in season. We often make grain bowls for lunch, with any cooked grain, millet or quinoa as the bed, adding leftover vegetables from the fridge on top. In this recipe, we have taken the grain bowl concept and turned it into a platter. It’s topped with roasted and fresh spring vegetables, feta cheese, egg halves and hazelnuts. It’s a beautiful dish and a great one to make for Easter dinner. If you want to take the Easter concept even further, you could add roasted asparagus as well.

We use an organic five-grain mix (emmer wheat, barley, gamut, brown rice and oat groats) from Zeta as the grain base but if you can’t find something similar, go with your favorite grain. Grains thrive with flavor friends, so we have paired these with a quick salsa made from marinated bell peppers, olives, capers, herbs and lemon. And stirred in a bit of feta cheese and toasted hazelnuts as well. It’s all there, flavours, looks and textures.

Preheat the oven at 200°C / 400°F and cover a baking tray with baking paper.Peal or clean the carrots and trim off the outer layer of the onion. Cut the onion lengthwise and the zucchini in bite-size pieces. Place the vegetables on the tray. Drizzle with oil and salt and roast for 15-20 minutes.Cook the grains in a large bowl of salted water according to the instructions on the package and drain in a sieve once they are ready.Make the salsa by chopping all the ingredients finely. Place in a bowl, squeeze over lemon juice and drizzle with oil. Fold the salsa into the grains, reserving some of it for serving. Crumble 2/3 of the feta cheese into the grains and half of the hazelnuts. Toss so everything is mixed.Pour the grains onto a platter, top with the roasted vegetables, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, egg halves, feta cheese and hazelnuts. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with the remaining salsa and some sourdough bread on the side.

Disclosure: We were compensated by Zeta for creating this recipe and video using some of their products. All words are our own.

Related

I was recently asked by Terra (OSG’s editor extraordinaire) how I came up with this recipe and after explaining my process to her, we both agreed I should share my fun little kitchen story with you on the blog! I often think this stuff is going to be boring so I don’t tend to get into the behind-the-scenes details too often, but I’d love to hear what you think!

This recipe actually began as something totally different. I’d been working on a simplified butternut risotto and, despite a few attempts, it just wasn’t impressing me (okay, I totally have Shania Twain in my head right now). I had planned on trying that recipe one more time before moving on, but just couldn’t shake the feeling of DOOM I had about it. Whenever I’m clouded by this “feeling of doom” and try to force a recipe (ignoring the voices in my head screaming “noooo don’t do it!”), I find it usually winds up being a waste of time anyway. I have to say that the results are almost always still edible and often quite tasty…just not quite good enough to share!

So, putting the risotto aside, I brainstormed something in a totally new direction! I couldn’t get crusted butternut squash out of my head (#weirdo), and thought it would be absolutely amazing to create a nut-and-seed coating for one of my favourite sweet, hearty winter veggies. I thought about my popular eggplant parmesan recipe from Oh She Glows Every Day (page 173) and used that as a jumping off point to get the wheels turning.

But I didn’t want to share the crusted squash recipe on its own as I had a hunch many of you would ask me how to turn these crunchy beauties into a complete meal. I checked my fridge and saw that I had some kale on hand, so I decided to marinate the greens in a creamy dressing for a hearty base. Now what about adding more protein in addition to what the nuts and seeds provide? I’ve been wanting to make spicy roasted chickpeas using my 10-Spice Mix for a while, and thought the pop of heat they bring would be a nice contrast to the the sweet, nutty squash. Bingo!!

Let’s recap: crunchy crusted squash, marinated kale, and 10-Spice roasted chickpeas. Yes, this could be AMAZING!!! Soon enough, a meal was born! This is when I start to get really excited, if you can’t already tell. But then I realize that I have to write up that dang recipe…

After I come up with the complete recipe idea, I type the recipe out in its entirety, visualizing each step as I go along. (This is something I’ve gotten better at as the years have gone by, but I still think it’s probably the most difficult part of the process!) Then I use this detailed recipe draft as as a guide for my first test and any trials thereafter. Each time my recipe tester Nicole and I test the recipe, I make live edits into the working draft on my laptop. (Live editing sounds way more exciting than it is…hah.) Once we both approve of the recipe (Nicole owns her own daycare, so other testers often include children and parents too…score!), I make final recipe edits before Terra and I begin the back and forth of our editing process. I’ve been creating recipes for almost 10 years now, and I find this system helps me deliver consistent and high-quality recipes.

Okay, if you skip right over this and go straight to the recipe, I won’t blame you. It’s all about the food, after all! This recipe is a big one, so reading it over before you begin is especially important. Also, you’ll see it contains a few “mini” recipes within—nutty topping, 10-Spice Roasted Chickpeas, marinated kale, etc.—feel free to make individual components (like the roasted chickpeas or marinated kale) on their own when you’re not up for preparing the full dish. A little mix-and-match, if you will! I don’t want to gush too much, but I really hope you make the whole thing…everyone who tried this recipe RAVED about it (one tester even said it’s possibly her favourite OSG recipe ever!). I could eat it every day, personally. 🙂

Directions:

Position two oven racks near the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Prepare the nutty crust topping: Add the garlic clove to a food processor and process until minced. Now add the hemp hearts, hazelnuts (no need to remove skins!), cashews, walnuts, nutritional yeast, and salt to the processor and pulse the mixture until coarsely ground with some larger chunks of nuts (the mixture should be the texture of large-flake sea salt). Be careful not to overprocess the nuts as you want the topping to be crunchy. Spoon all of the mixture into a large shallow bowl.

Peel the squash and halve it lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove and discard the seeds inside. Slice each half into thin 3/4-inch wedges.

Now we’re going to coat the wedges in the nutty crust topping, and I’ll warn you in advance that this is a messy, imperfect process…but the result is delicious, so don’t sweat it! To start, in a shallow bowl, whisk the arrowroot powder and oil together until smooth. Use a pastry brush to generously brush the oil mixture onto a single squash wedge until it’s completely coated in oil (or simply dip the wedge into the oil and toss to coat). Immediately transfer the oil-coated wedge to the bowl of nutty crust topping. Using your fingers, heap the mixture onto the top and sides of the wedge until it’s covered completely. Be generous! Press the topping into the wedge so that there’s a thick coating. (And it’s totally normal for some topping to fall off in spots.) If you find your fingers covered in the topping, rinse and dry them as needed.

Repeat this process for all of the wedges, placing each one gently on the baking sheet as you go and leaving about 2 inches of space between. If you run out of topping, you can reserve leftover wedges for another use or coat them in oil and roast them alongside the topping-coated wedges as directed.

Prepare the 10-Spice Roasted Chickpeas: Place the drained and rinsed chickpeas onto a tea towel and roll the chickpeas around until they’re dry. Spread the chickpeas onto the second baking sheet and toss with the oil. Sprinkle on the 10-Spice Mix and toss the chickpeas again until coated evenly.

Place both baking sheets into the oven. Roast the chickpeas for about 30 to 35 minutes until lightly golden and then remove them from the oven. Roast the squash for a total of 40 to 55 minutes (I bake for about 50 minutes), until fork tender and lightly golden. I suggest testing the squash around the 40-minute mark and keeping a close eye on it thereafter.

While the chickpeas and squash are roasting, prepare the marinated kale. Rinse the kale leaves and use absorbent tea towels to pat dry. Separate the stems from the kale and discard. Tear the kale into bite-sized pieces and transfer to a very large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the garlic, olive oil, maple syrup, salt, lemon, and tahini until smooth. Pour the dressing over the kale and “massage” until fully coated. Feel free to enjoy the marinated kale raw or use a skillet to heat it up. (I like to sauté mine if I have time!) Set aside.

For serving: Divide the marinated kale into 4 large shallow bowls and top each with a few squash wedges along with a large spoonful of roasted chickpeas. Drizzle a tablespoon of tahini onto each bowl and top with a few generous squeezes of lemon juice too. You can serve the bowls with lemon wedges on the side if preferred. Oh, and if there is nutty topping remaining on the baking sheet, feel free to sprinkle it over the bowls so nothing goes to waste.

As always, you can find this recipe in The Oh She Glows Recipe App as well! The app is available on iOS and Android.

I just checked the version history of my Roasted Carrot and Dill Hummus Google Doc and realized that I first tested this hummus recipe on January 10, 2015. What the heck? THREE years ago?! #hellotimewarp Better late than never, I say…although I know a few people who are likely baffled by its turtle-paced cross to the finish line!

My kiddos are hummus fiends (they’ll actually eat it by the spoonful…I have no idea who they got that habit from…), and they gobbled up this roasted carrot version in no time. I like knowing that it’s packing a couple extra veggies—what’s not to love about a sneaky vitamin boost?

I know what you’re thinking: Ange, is this hummus really worth roasting carrots for? I agree, it’s sort of a big ask for a hummus recipe, but every time I make this version I’m reminded how much I LOVE the flavour combo. The smoky charred carrots just give it that little something-something…not to mention a bit of sweet creamy-dreamy-ness (technical term) alongside a hint of dill—so bright and fresh!

A couple fun tricks: Since I’m already roasting carrots for the recipe, I like to add a few extras along with some other veggies, like broccoli, for dipping into the hummus or layering in a wrap. So throw whatever veggies you have onto the roasting pan and go wild. Or you might even toss on a handful of chickpeas to get in on the roasting party—they’re also great in a wrap, served on salad, or sprinkled as a garnish on the hummus itself. Another trick I use now and then is to roast the carrots before bed and pop them into a container in the fridge overnight. The next day, the carrots are ready to be thrown into the food processor with the other hummus ingredients so it all comes together super fast.

Before I get to the recipe, I’d also like to mention that The Oh She Glows Recipe App is still on sale for 99 cents in the iTunes Store! (The Google Play Store operates separately from iTunes, and we weren’t able to extend the Oh She Glows app sale any longer with them, unfortunately—we’ll have to do another sale in the near future!) A huge thank you to everyone who has supported our app and left such great feedback! It means the world to us as this has been such a passion project.

For garnish:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a roasting pan with parchment paper.

Spread the diced carrots on the roasting pan. Toss them in the teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Roast for 32 to 37 minutes, until carrots are fork-tender and blackened on the bottom.

About 5 to 10 minutes before your carrots are done roasting, place the garlic and fresh dill into a large food processor. Process until minced.

Drain the chickpeas over a small bowl, reserving the chickpea brine, if using.

Next add the drained chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, chickpea brine (or filtered water, if using), oil, and salt. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the side of the processor as necessary.

When the carrots are ready, carefully transport them to the processor using the parchment paper as a handle to carry. Process the mixture again until smooth. I like to let the machine run for a couple minutes so it gets as smooth as possible. Taste and adjust ingredients as desired. Feel free to add more dill, lemon, salt, oil or water depending on your preferences.

Serve the hummus with a sprinkle of ground cumin, coriander, and fresh minced dill, plus a drizzle of sesame or olive oil, if desired. Leftover hummus will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5 to 7 days.

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes action for ya! My photography studio is slowly being taken over by toys!! Send help.

I posted this story and make-ahead technique to my Instagram account recently, only to be cut off part-way through when I exceeded the word limit. As Stephanie Tanner would say: How rude, lol. Did you even know that Instagram has a word limit? I guess it wasn’t designed for Chatty Cathy’s like me. That’s when it hit me: I should post this on the blog so I can go a bit more in-depth! So read on, my friends….

The other weekend I decided it had been way too long since I had made my beloved roasted butternut squash dish, complete with vegan parmesan…kale…and lots of garlic. Have you made it? Oh my, it’s a show-stealing side I tell ya. (This dish makes all its other dinner companions give the side-eye, heh. #BUTTERNUTPLEASE!)

Here’s a little summary of comments I received when I served it to the fam:

Arlo, one year old: *Screams and beats his hands in protest because he has to wait for the squash to cool* then proceeds to inhale it. He was nice enough to smash the leftover squash into his hair, and even tossed some over his shoulder for good luck.

Me: *Scream and beat my hands in protest because I have to wait for it to cool* then enjoys two big servings.

You may have noticed lately that I’ve been on a crusade to create as many time-saving recipes and make-ahead tips as I can. In recent posts, I shared Adriana’s Favourite 10-Minute Pasta, 8-Minute Pantry Dal, and Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Panzanella, to name a few. Last week, I came up with a make-ahead version for one of my favourite side dishes: Roasted Butternut Squash with Pecan Parmesan and Kale! I’m so excited to share how I tweaked the original recipe to minimize day-of prep time. Now that we’re getting into all kinds of holiday celebration meals, my goal is to share as many time-saving tricks with you as I can. It’s making life much less hectic in the Liddon household.

I discovered that this dish can be prepped and stored in the fridge two to three days in advance—and no one will be the wiser! This is a fun trick for holiday meal prep when sanity reaches an all-time low (or is that just me?).

Here’s what you do:

1) Combine the chopped squash, minced garlic, parsley (not shown in the photo!), oil, and salt in an extra-large casserole dish. Pro tip: if I’m really short on time, I’ll occasionally buy fresh pre-chopped squash to save the hassle of peeling and dicing a large one! Sometimes you just gotta live your best life, ya know?

2) Stem and chop the kale, then place it into a zip bag or container.

3) Make the vegan parmesan, and place that into a separate fridge-friendly container.

PREP WORK DONEZO.

When you’re ready to roast this beauty either later that day or as many as two to three days later, proceed with the recipe as usual…maybe while giving an evil cackle about how you outsmarted the original instructions. I won’t mind.

One thing’s for sure, I’ll be using this trick for all of my future holiday meals, and even busy weeknights! It’s so handy to have everything prepped and ready to go. I hope this tip helps streamline your own holiday meal planning as well. If you’re looking for more crunch-time holiday inspiration, don’t forget to check out my Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Panzanella recipe—it has had some great feedback so far. Oh, and let me know in the comments if you have any make-ahead recipe requests! I’d love to hear them.

Yield6 side servings

Prep time20 Minutes

Cook time55 Minutes

Total time1 Hour, 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

For the roasted squash:

1 medium/large (2 to 2 1/2 pounds) butternut squash

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 cups (75 g) stemmed and finely chopped kale*

For the Almond-Pepita Parmesan:

1/4 cup (40 g) whole almonds**

1/4 cup (40 g) roasted pepita seeds**

1 tablespoon (15 mL) nutritional yeast

1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon (5 mL) extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

Grease an extra-large casserole dish with oil and set aside.

Peel the squash. Thinly slice off the bottom and top and then slice through the middle lengthwise to make two halves. Remove seeds with a spoon. Chop the two halves into 1-inch chunks and place into the oiled casserole dish. (Time-saving tip: buy a couple pounds of pre-chopped fresh butternut squash from the produce section of the grocery store. This was a major game-changer in the Liddon household, let me tell ya!.)

Add the minced garlic, parsley, oil, and salt into the casserole dish and toss with squash until combined (hands or a spoon both work well for this step!). Do not add the kale yet.

Cover the casserole dish with tinfoil and pop it into the fridge.

Place the chopped kale into a tightly sealed zip bag (being sure to squeeze any air out beforehand) or a small airtight container and refrigerate.

For the parmesan: Place all of the Almond-Pepita Parmesan ingredients into a mini food processor and pulse together until coarsely ground. Transfer the mixture into a zip bag or small container before placing it in the fridge. All three casserole components can be stored in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

When ready to cook the casserole, remove all prepped ingredients from the fridge. Poke a few air holes into the tinfoil covering the casserole dish.

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

Place the covered casserole dish in the oven and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, until the squash is fork tender.

Carefully remove the squash from the oven and reduce heat to 350°F (180°C). Remove the tinfoil (be careful as some steam might escape from the dish as you do). Stir the chopped kale into the squash until combined. Sprinkle all of the parmesan over top of the squash. Bake for another 6 to 10 minutes, uncovered, until the nuts are lightly toasted and the kale has wilted. Watch closely so you don’t burn either the nuts or kale. Serve warm, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.

Leftovers will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for about 5 days. To reheat, simply scoop the squash into an oiled skillet and heat over medium, stirring frequently, until heated through. Season to taste, and enjoy!